Man to sue Illinois after conviction in 1957 murder annulled

Jack Daniel McCullough enters the King County Jail courtroom for his bail hearing in Seattle, Washington in this July 4, 2011, file photo, shot through bullet-proof glass. REUTERS/Anthony Bolante/Files

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A man who had been sentenced to life in prison for the kidnapping and murder of a 7-year-old girl in 1957 plans to sue the state of Illinois after his conviction was annulled, the Associated Press reported on Monday.

Jack McCullough, 76, who was released from prison on Friday on the basis of previously unknown evidence that pointed to his innocence, told the AP he will sue the state for the suffering that five years in prison caused him and his family.

A lawyer for McCullough, who was arrested and jailed in 2011 and convicted the following year, declined to comment on the report.

Last week, DeKalb County Circuit Court Judge William Brady granted McCullough’s request for a new trial and annulled his conviction. The judge ordered him to remain in Illinois while he was free on bond.

McCullough was convicted of killing Maria Ridulph, who disappeared in December 1957 while playing near her home in Sycamore. Her body was found about four months later and the case remained unsolved.

McCullough was a teenager when Ridulph went missing and was an early suspect. He told investigators he was on a train from Rockford in southern Illinois to Chicago when the girl disappeared. He later joined the military, moved to Washington state and became a policeman in Lacey, a town east of Olympia.